Eel trap

Yvonne Koolmatrie
Ngarrindjeri people, South Australia
1944

Eel trap
2015
woven spiny-headed sedge (Cyperus gymnocaulos)
Place made
Berri, South Australia
Medium
woven spiny-headed sedge (Cyperus gymnocaulos)
Dimensions
40.0 x 40.0 x 132.0 cm
Credit line
Acquisition through Tarnanthi: Festival of Contemporary Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art supported by BHP 2015
Accession number
20155A25A
Signature and date
Not signed. Not dated.
Media category
Sculpture
Collection area
Australian decorative arts and design - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
Copyright
Courtesy of the Artist and Aboriginal & Pacific Art, Sydney
Image credit
Photo: Jenni Carter

  • Created by the internationally renowned South Australian Ngarrindjeri artist, Yvonne Koolmatrie, these traditional Eel traps were made using spiny-headed sedge (Cyperus gymnocaulos), sourced from the banks of the Murray River. In 1982 Koolmatrie learnt traditional Ngarrindjeri weaving from the Elder Dorothy Kartinyeri, who at that time was one of the last people using the labour-intensive coiled-bundle technique. Furthering her knowledge through research in the South Australian Museum’s collection of Ngarrindjeri woven objects, Koolmatrie has been instrumental in reviving this tradition.

     

    Koolmatrie makes both customary utilitarian objects, such as the Eel traps, and figurative contemporary sculptures, such as fish, turtles, lizards, echidnas and even a biplane and hot-air balloon. Through these woven sculptural works, Koolmatrie draws on her Ngarrindjeri cultural knowledge and responds to contemporary life.

     

    Rebecca Evans, Curator of Decorative Arts & Design

  • Riverland: Yvonne Koolmatrie

    Art Gallery of South Australia, 8 October 2015 – 17 January 2016
  • [Book] AGSA 500.